While visiting my friend, M, recently we rode from her house in Upland to the quaint town of Claremont.  In old town Claremont, there are many shops, sidewalks, trees, restaurants and outdoor cafe’s.  We stopped at the Buddhamouse Emporium where imported items every yogini would desire was displayed.  After playing with a few Tibetan bowls by skimming the brass rims at a slow pace with a fat, short, wooden dowel-like stick, I walked over to the small book selection.  I did find a book there I feel I was meant to purchase.  It is on writing.  The store promotes peace, beauty and well-being and has all the accruements you would need to enhance your yogic experience – plus +  ‘gifts’.Has yoga been commercialized?  Oh yes.  I remember my son thumbing through a Gaim catalog and commenting “How could a soul-centered experience have so many products to sell?” or something of that nature.  He was right.  I couldn’t read enough yoga books, collect enough crystals, essential oils, yoga mats, yoga blankets, blocks, bands, yoga banners, music or yoga wear in my two year yoga teaching career even if I “had traded shopping for teaching” as my youngest just suggested.

In the end what matters most is – How well did you love?  How well did you live?  How well did you learn to let go? – Dalai Lama

Good thing I let go of yoga or I would be in debt right now.

If you have a penchant for up and coming, restored and invigorating locations then take a look at Jack London Square;  a bustling center of commerce, restaurants and hip new shops in Oakland.  From my son’s apartment, it was a quick ten or fifteen minute walk.  People everywhere were enjoying the sun and the fresh air.  It is conveniently located by a train stop, Lake Merritt, Old Oakland town and the Nimitz Freeway (I-880).The region is strategically placed by Oakland’s Inner Harbor and boasts dockside views.Wide boardwalks for pedestrians, well positioned benches, classic lighting with ever flowing flower pots are all maintained to warmly welcome the unsuspecting traveler.  This is a gem of a hot spot in Oakland. From what I witnessed, it holds great promise for future creative development in both business and residential potential.

The organic 3 grain tempeh I picked up at Trader Jo’s has soybeans, brown rice, barley and millet as its ingredients.  Even though your package may say use straight out of the plastic packet it comes encased in – Don’t.  Steam it for 15 minutes and you will have a milder tasting tempeh that can pick up flavors instead of releasing them.  This is just a trick I learned recently and I guess vegan restaurants know about it because I have enjoyed this protein before but I hated tempeh dishes I created at home because it tasted kinda raw and bitter right out of its container.Tempeh loaf cut into four rectangles in steamer basket before recipe can be prepared.

Taking a recipe from Native Foods Celebration, adapting it to what I had on hand, subtracting the oil completely and halving the ingredients, I proceeded to combine the following ingredients.

Note to self:  Next time I use a food processor not the Nutri Bullet.

8 oz tempeh

2 Tbsp. red peppers, diced

2 Tbsp. red onion, diced

1/4 cup cilantro, chopped

1 whole lemon, zested and its juice

1/2 tsp. sea salt

1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

1/2 tsp. cumin

Process the tempeh, transfer to a bowl and add all the ingredients and mix well.  Form into little patties and pan fry with just a spritz of your favorite oil.  Flip over the patties when they  have been seared and are golden brown.Serve with remoulade or any dip or relish.

Delicious and these small morsels actually tasted or had the texture of crab cakes.  They were not fishy but that’s what they reminded me of.  Otherwise, they are in a class of their own.

This is a keeper of an idea and I plan on branching out and adding fresh basil in the summer with bay leaf powder instead of cumin or even adding Indian spices like garam masala or try giving it a Middle Eastern twist by adding something like zatar.  The basic tempeh whirred and add some diced up veggies and spices and herbs, then make cakes is the germ and gem of this concept.

They would make great appetizers.  I saved what I didn’t eat and had them without even re-heating them with different dips as well as alone.  If you can stop eating them you could keep them in your fridge all week long.

Tonight we dined at The Pint House over by Century 21 Stadium movie theatres on Katella, right off the 57 fwy.  Our choices were numerous as there are no fewer than eight dining options in one square block catering to the movie, Anaheim stadium and Honda Center ( I frequently misname it as the Honda Ponda – remnants of when it was home to the Mighty Ducks and owned by Arrowhead).

The Pint House is relatively new to the scene and considering it caters to (mostly men) beer drinkers who will pay an annual fee to have their own personalized glass (pint) on the wall, it has pretty decent food and prices.

We started with appetizers: Pretzels with a cheesy garlic sauce, freshly fried tortilla chips with a spicy adobo sauce and my personal favorite, brie warmed, seductively melted into a cast-iron pan with pesto, sun-dried tomatoes, toasted pine nuts, roasted garlic and crusty, buttery bread slices.

Brie with Pesto

From there my table of adventurers ventured into burgers, fries, onion rings, salmon Provencal (with spinach) over rice pilaf with roasted veggies (which I almost ordered but with their special of the night – Mahi ) and I ended up entertaining a Mediterranean salad with artichoke hearts, roasted peppers, garbanzos, red onion slices, feta and olives atop baby mixed greens with a balsamic dressing I did not care for and was wise enough to order on the side.

Mediterranean Salad

Always order your dressing on the side.  This way, if you don’t like it, it won’t ruin your salad. Plus, it keeps your greens crisp since it’s not slathered with dressing till you say so.  Rarely has my salad been enhanced by a restaurant’s dressing and I would rather eat my salad dry and taste the ingredients or make my own simple olive oil, lemon, salt concoction I prefer at home.  And most restaurants, especially chains, don’t have quality condiments, but that’s just me driveling because it’s one of my many food pet peeves.

Salmon Provencal

Of course, I love dessert and my new motto is quality over quantity, so I eat whatever I want as long as it’s not faux food, processed or chemicals disguised as nutrition.  So we ordered one dessert for the table (we had four spoons).  We consumed another skillet gourmand delicacy (like the Brie), old-fashioned apple pie a la mode. Sorry, no pictures.  We gobbled it up. The slightly salty crust, apples, sauce, ice cream  – hot/cold combo never fails and this version knocked me out with its cinnamon undertones.  Adding some chopped walnuts would be the only thing that could have enhanced the pie or subtracting the amount of spoons we had for sharing (just joshing).

I then left three people at the movies to see the zombie movie with Brad Pitt, World War Z I believe it’s called, whom I have no desire to watch and proceeded to write this post.  Soon, I will pick them up at the appointed location (it’s a mad house) and hear all about it.  I chose to write about food instead!  Go figure.